Why 'Like a Boss' director Miguel Arteta has spent his career telling stories about women

'I like movies about strong women; I find them in some ways more interesting than stories about men,' the Puerto Rican director says

'Like a Boss' tells a story of female friendship, starring Rose Byrne and Tiffany Haddish. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

After two decades of making on-the-nose indie comedies such as Chuck & Buck and Cedar Rapids, director Miguel Arteta must've felt a shock to the system when he took on the studio-backed Like a Boss. "When you're making an indie movie, you usually have two people on a bench talking to each other," he reveals. "It's a lot harder, hanging Tiffany off ten storeys!"

The "Tiffany" in question is Tiffany Haddish, the American actress and former stand-up comedian, who scored a breakout hit with 2017's raucous Girls Trip. It was her commitment to the Like a Boss script – written by Sam Pitman and Adam Cole-Kelly – that encouraged Arteta to make a rare foray into studio comedy. "I realised to make a movie that pays tribute to female friendship with Tiffany would be amazing."

Set in the world of beauty, that friendship comes between Haddish's character Mia Carter and her bestie Mel Paige (Australian actress Rose Byrne), who together set up a successful cosmetics company. But then friction starts when glamorous red-headed beauty mogul Claire Luna (Salma Hayek) takes a controlling interest in their business. Fireworks inevitably fly, as the girls come to serious blows.

Miguel Arteta has spent much of his career telling stories about powerful women. Shutterstock

For Arteta, it was yet another chance to deliver a sharp, insightful female-driven story. Whether it's 2002's The Good Girl, a loose modern interpretation of Madame Bovary with Jennifer Aniston, or 2017's Beatriz at Dinner, his first film with Hayek, the Puerto Rican director has been making women's stories long before Hollywood was shamed into producing more films for the fairer sex.  

"I like stories about women," Arteta says. "My education was the golden era of Hollywood, watching those movies. I'm a film geek and my favourite genre is the woman's picture; there were so many amazing stars – Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford. I like movies about strong women; I find them in some ways more interesting than stories about men, so I'm attracted to that."

While Like a Boss has some big set-pieces that "every once in a while go a little bit over the top" – not least the aforementioned sequence with Haddish precariously hanging off a banner over a shopping mall – Arteta was keen to hark back to Hollywood's Golden Age. He compares it to the fast-moving screwball ­comedies of old. "It was fun to have that frenetic energy to play with."

Of course Like a Boss isn't quite as well-behaved as some of those films from the black-and-white era, loaded as it is with plenty of fresh humour liable to make the more sensitive among you blush. "I think fans of R-rated comedies will be happy," says Arteta, who must be hoping that his film follows 2016's twisted ­superhero tale Deadpool, which became the ­highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

This being a film set in the world of beauty and cosmetics, Arteta was able to lean on his good friend, make-up artist Roz Music, who has worked with him on several movies right back to 2009's Youth in Revolt and "educated" him on the ins and outs of make-up. Not that he was so blind to it beforehand.

"You have to pay attention [to the beauty industry] if you're interested in making movies, because you're putting people in front of the camera," he explains.

Arteta's production designer Theresa Guleserian also did "extensive research" into the current trends in the ­industry. "There's a lot going on," he says. "On YouTube, one of the most popular things is make-up tutorials. And young women do celebrate themselves through make-up; they're more interested in it than ever. And I think what Theresa was really ­educating me on [was that] women put on make-up more for ­themselves and each other than for men," Arteta says.

Despite his detailed ­approach, the director wants to make one thing clear: "For me, the movie at the end of the day wasn't about the make-up industry, it was really about friendship." The Carter-Paige relationship is the film's beating heart, with Byrne's Paige coming from a broken home and a mother with addiction problems who was "rescued" by Haddish's more stable ­Carter. "They're almost more than friends; they're each other's family."

On set that family vibe continued, thanks to Haddish. "She held potluck dinners every Sunday for the whole crew and cast," says Arteta, who calls her "a fun-loving person full of heart". Working with her, Hayek and Byrne, whose work in films like Spy and Bad Neighbours has made her one of Hollywood's most in-demand comedy stars, was also the chance for the 54-year-old director to bring together three very distinct comediennes.

Between Haddish's wise-cracking, Byrne's ­dramatic chops and Hayek's no-holds-barred approach, it's a delicious combo. "I love seeing very different kinds of people coming together and having surprising chemistry," he says, comparing it to Getting On, the HBO hospital-set comedy he made between 2013 and 2015, which featured Laurie Metcalf, Alex Borstein and Niecy Nash.

Indeed, for all of Arteta's work in comedy films, ­directing television has been vital for him – be it on Alan Ball's revered Six Feet Under, cult high school yarn Freaks and Geeks or the current must-see show, Succession. "[Doing TV] supported me when I was doing small indie movies," he says. "The main thing is letting me work with great writers. Writers gravitate to ­television because they have full control."

Salma Hayek stars in 'Like a Boss'. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Now he's looking to combine the two with his next project, the upcoming Netflix feature comedy Yes Day, based on the children's book of the same name by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. "It's a movie about a family that for one day will say 'yes' to anything the kids want," explains Arteta, who points out that the premise has already inspired real families to follow suit – including his leading lady Jennifer Garner.

"She has been doing it every year for seven years," says Arteta, "If you go on her Instagram you'll see the mayhem ensues." His second family comedy after 2014's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which also starred Garner, this chaotic but sweet-natured story feels right in his wheelhouse. "I'm having fun doing extreme comedies," he smiles. Sounds like a blast.

Like a Boss will be in cinemas across the UAE from Thursday